Small Lake Profile- Hartell CORRECTIONS

I owe a huge apology to everyone that reads this site.  I have made some BIG mistakes in a post that I wrote about two weeks ago and I need to correct my errors.  Hartell Conservation Area has undergone some BIG changes since I fished there last and the MDC website does NOT reflect some of those changes.  Other errors that I made came from not visiting the area in the last few years and that is all my fault and I should have done a better job checking my facts prior to posting.  I apologize profusely if you fished this area under false pretenses but I am here to set the record straight.

No Longer Catch & Release
I stated in my previous post that the area is catch and release only.  This has changed and is no longer the case.  While the requirements for largemouth bass are very conservative at 2 bass over 18 inches, the other limits are more liberal.  20 sunfish and 30 crappie are allowed which would elude to the idea that these lakes might no longer be managed as trophy areas for anything other than bass and even that is up for debate.

Not a Boat at Every Lake
Below, I am including a picture and caption from each lake.  You can see that Redear Lake does not have a boat, Lunker Lake doesn't need a boat, and Picnic Lake has two boats.  Most had a large amount of water in the bottom of them as a result of the rain we had last week but I would have hoped that whoever mows the area would have drained them.

Redear Lake- no boat but looked like it was in good shape.

Another picture of Redear Lake.

This would be a great lake to put a boat on.

The Missouri of Conservation website claims that Lunker Lake has a low population of fish due to a recent fish kill.  Since the lake has been drained, I guess that explains why the low populations.  I guess the only thing you can fish for is grass carp.

This lake was pretty well scummed over but this could be paradise if you like to fish a hollow bodied frog,

Quite Lake...looked pretty quiet.

Quiet Lake

There WAS a boat at Quiet Lake but it also looked like a breeding ground for the Zika virus.

Picnic Lake looked like it had some serious potential.

Picnic also had two boats available.

Boat 1 had a shallow end...which looks nice.  I bet the water was warm.

Boat 2 was pretty dry but the oar locks were broken (not pictured).

Not Only for Flies & Artificials
I could not find any signs or indications that only flies and artificials are allowed at the lakes.  I'm not sure when this changed but wish it hadn't.  So much for a fly fisherman's paradise.

Lunker Lake is Drained
As you can tell in the pictures above, Lunker Lake is more like Lunker Prairie now.  I wish the website would have said that it was drained rather than mentioning that there was a fish kill.  At the same time, I never caught squat in that lake anyway so whatever.